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Show ' 108 ill IS DENOUNCED ITlfSIIHO j President, in Statement to Americans, Says That Violence Aids German Propaganda Here. ;j KAISER'S ARMIES ! j ARE LAWLESS, TOO i j Officials and Citizens Are j Urged to Take Active Means for Ending This j Disgraceful Evil, i . WASHINGTON, July 26. President Wilson today in a personal statement addressed to his tellow countrymen, denouncing de-nouncing mob spirit and mob action, called upon the nation to show the world that while it lights for democracy on foreign fields, it is not destroying democracy de-mocracy at home. The president denounced most emphatically emphati-cally mob action of all sorts, especially lynchiiigs, and while he did not refer specifically to lynchings of negroes in the south, it is known that he Included them In his characterization of mob spirit as "a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice." The president's statement, In full, follows: fol-lows: i "My fellow countrymen: I take the J liberty of addressing you upon a subject j which so vitally affects the honor of the I nation and the very character and integ- j rity of our Institutions that I trust you will think me justified In speaking very plainly about it. "I allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very frequently shown lis head amongst us, not in , any single region, but in many and widely separated parts of the country- There have been many lynchings, and every one of them has been a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice. No man who loves America, no man who really cares for her fame and honor and character char-acter or who is truly loyal to her Institutions Insti-tutions can justify mob action while the courts of justice are open and the governments gov-ernments of the states and the nation are ready and able to do their duty. Mobs Emulate Germany. "We are at this very moment fighting lawless passion. Germany has outlawed herself among the nations because she 1 has disregarded the sacred obligations of law and has made lynchers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her disgraceful example. exam-ple. I, for my part, am anxious to see every community in America rise above that level, with pride and a fixed resolution reso-lution which no man or set of men can afford to despise. ', "We proudly claim to be the champions ! of democracy. If we really are, in deed : and in truth, let us see to it that we do 1 not discredit our own. I say plainly that S every American who takes part in the action ot a mob or gives any port of countenance coun-tenance is no true son of this ureat democracy, de-mocracy, but its betrayer, and dues more i to discredit her by that single disloy- ! alty to her standards of law and of right ! than the words of her statesmen or the sacrifices of her heroic boys in the trenches can do to make suffering peoples peo-ples believe her to be their saviour. How shall we commend democracy to the acceptance of other peoples if we ' disgrace our own by proving that it is, after all, no protection to the weak? Kvery mob contributes to German lies about tne United States what her most gifted liars cannot improve upon by the wav of calumny. They can at least say that such things cannot happen in Ger-when Ger-when law is swept away! Laws Are Inviolate. "I therefore very earnestly and sol-enmlv sol-enmlv beg that the governors of all the .statos. the law officers of every community, com-munity, and, abovo all, the men and women of even' community in the United I States, all who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or reproach, re-proach, will co-operate; not passively merely, but actively and watchfully, to make" an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot live where the community does not countenance it. "I have called upon the nation to put its great energy into this war and it has responded responded with a spirit and a gonius for action that has thrilled the world. I now call upon It, upon its men and women everywhere, to see to it that its laws are kept inviolate, its fame un- tarnished. Let us show our utter contempt con-tempt for the things that have made this war hideous among the wars of history his-tory by showing how those who love Hb-ertv Hb-ertv and right and justice and are willing to lay down their lives for them upon foreign iields stand ready also to illus-t illus-t rate to all mankind iheir loyal t v to the tilings at home which t!nv wish to see established everywhere as a blessing and protection to the peoples who have never . ', known the privilege of liberty and self- 1 ; government. "I can never accept any man as a champion of libertv either for ourselves or for the world who does not reverence and obey the laws of our own beloved land, whost- laws we ourselves have made, lie has adopted the standards of the enemies ene-mies of his country, whom he affects to i despise. ! "WOODROW WILSON." |